Guest guest Posted April 24, 2002 Report Share Posted April 24, 2002 Hi all, I am considering starting my two year old son on EFAs. Has anyone out there ever heard of any negative side effects from them? Also, how long do you give them to your child? When do you stop? Thanks for any advice. Marissa ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 25, 2002 Report Share Posted April 25, 2002 Every child responds differently. Some say bowel movements may get a little easier, others say their kids seem a little more energetic or don't go to sleep as easy. In our case, my son is pretty laid back so the extra energy is a plus! We didn't experience any issues with bowel movements. In terms of when to stop, for us as long as we see progress we will keep supplementing! Of course you can supplement with foods rich in Omega3 and 6 but it would be hard to say what amounts they were getting. I buy Omega3 eggs and use ground flax seed as well as changing from Olive oil to sunflower oil. Let us know how your child does! denise > Hi all, > > I am considering starting my two year old son on EFAs. Has anyone out > there ever heard of any negative side effects from them? Also, how long > do you give them to your child? When do you stop? Thanks for any > advice. Marissa > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 25, 2002 Report Share Posted April 25, 2002 Hi Marissa! What are the side effects of EFAs? We'd all like to know. The TV documentary we were just filmed for has interviewed doctors and scientists from the NIH, etc. and has been and is still actively searching for a year for the negative effects so that of course that could be included as well. They still haven't found other than what you will read here and in the following links. The most severe side effects are anecdotal reports from some of the parents of children prone to seizures. They found that their seizure prone child appeared to have more seizures when on an EFA formula with Omega 6 -(GLA) in it -and because of that warning which carried quickly through the internet - many parents of a child prone to seizures will now auto stick with pure Omega 3 formulas (like cod liver oil) There has been no clinical research to prove or disprove this -and not much research on our population of children in general unfortunately based on what we are seeing. Since in our group (or for anyone who has a support group in your area) we have children prone to seizures on Omega 3/6 formula's doing really well (and you can see that too if you attend your local support meetings) and at the same time since there possibly is a risk of a seizure if supplemented -it's best to run that past your child's doctor. I know from the one parent of a child prone to seizures (who either posted here to our group or to me -can't remember) she supplemented a few drops at a time and was ready with medication in case a seizure started -and he did fine (please post if you read this to give us an update!). This should not alarm anyone who has a child that is not prone to seizures. There are no reports at all of children not prone to seizures having a seizure from taking a fish oil supplement. Of course if your child is allergic to fish -then avoid fish oil and stick with flax seed oil, etc. Dr. of Oxford told us at the First Apraxia Conference that CHERAB hosted that the side effects of EFA supplementation is " healthy skin and shiny hair " -here is more from a UK website for a product she has done research on http://www.equazen.com/qa_drug.htm You may want to look into the side effects however of EFA deficiency - there you will find a lot of information!! Here is just one of many links -through the internet -there are so many it just depends on what condition and what government agency you want to source from. Research into polyenic fatty acids at Roche Dietary recommendation: Put more fish on the table! Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) such as omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids affect the properties and functions of cell membranes and influence various hormonal and immunological activities. Though they cannot be fully synthesised by the human body, they are plentiful in mackerel and herring as well as in the seeds of borage and evening primrose. Dietary deficiency of these substances leads to skin damage, growth disturbances, and inflammatory processes. To prevent such deficiencies, sandwich spreads, margarines, butter, and mayonnaise are often enriched with PUFAs. For this purpose, fish and plant oils are purified, deodorized, and stabilized at Roche Lipid Technologies in Heanor, England. Clinical studies with vitamins and polyenic fatty acids are under way in the Vitamins and Fine Chemicals Division of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. in Basel and Kaiseraugst. (For more on this:) http://www.roche.com/pages/facets/7/pufa.htm (And Dani -you can buy the Omega 3 eggs in most supermarkets -here is just one link http://207.106.34.114/egglandsbest/shopper_new.asp call me if you have questions) ===== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted May 13, 2002 Report Share Posted May 13, 2002 Hi ! We miss you and running the Long Island Support Group!! To answer your question, I do know that it's extremely important to only purchase fish oil supplements from reputable companies. Face it -fish oil itself can be pretty yucky -imagine old, rancid -or worse- fish oil. The " Sun Total EFA Liquid was one of the oils recalled by the FDA about 6 month's ago. at http://www.safetyalerts.com/recall/f/014/f45386.htm you can easily read about this company's first public notice of this Class llI recall issued by the FDA on November 15, 2001. Or you can go to http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ENFORCE/2001/ENF00719.html and scroll down to read it. One other thing to keep in mind if in fact you were looking at a liquid vs a capsule. Liquid fish oil needs to be refrigerated and has a shelf life of a few weeks or months (can't remember) Many good fish oil capsules on the other hand do not require refrigeration and have a shelf life of about 3 years. So even though the capsules are a bit of a pain -it in some ways guarantees a fresher product to our children. (I don't know when it's time to give a company another chance - however there are certainly enough reputable companies out there like Nordic Naturals, Coromega, Equazen, etc. that why we go there with children?) In addition to all of this the GLA on the product " Health from the Sun " appears at 288 mg to be considerably higher than the Omega 3 and Omega 6 formula's most of us find most successful -based on anecdotal reports -and clinical research you can read at http://www.equazen.com if you were to increase anything -it should be the DHA -or more likely the EPA. It's overall a very different formula -so I too am curious if anyone else tries it. (not me) ===== Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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